Theatre troupe Samudaya has voiced its concern over the increasing cases of curtailment of artistic expression in the name of religion and culture, including the recent instance of three paintings depicting Hindu deities being pulled down from an exhibition at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath following pressure allegedly from a Bharatiya Janata Party leader.
In a press release, T. Sunrendra Rao, secretary of Samudaya, has said that equally distressing are the fatwa on the all-girl band in Kashmir and the attack on the Tamil film Vishwaroopam by Muslim groups.
He said they smack of intolerance for an artiste’s right to free expression.
“Indian democracy will be in peril if such attacks on the constitutional rights are not severely tackled,” Mr. Surendra Rao said.
